


Partner-Not-In-Crime

by Elaine_ORoake



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Adoption, CSS, Captain Swan - Freeform, Childhood, Depression, F/M, Gen, Meeting the Parents, One Shot, Orphan - Freeform, Secret Santa, cs, scheming Liam/Emma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 15:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5544557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elaine_ORoake/pseuds/Elaine_ORoake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Detective Emma Swan is Killian Jones' partner, his best friend. When his best friend seems to fall into a depression after a short vacation, he will do anything he can to help her</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partner-Not-In-Crime

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a CS Secret Santa gift to atudorrose on Tumblr. I have no idea if they are on AO3, but this one is for you!

“Swan!” Killian yelled as he pounded on the door. The only noises that answered him were soft rustling sounds from inside. “I know you’re in there, I can hear you moving!”

As soon as Emma came back to the station just last month after taking a few days off, he knew immediately that something was wrong.

Detective Emma Swan was never a very bubbly person, but ever since she got back, the change in her was very obvious, or at least it was to him.

Lately it had been like she was always lost in thought, whenever her and Killian were called on a case, he would have to say her name a few times just to get her attention.

Every Friday they and a few other coworkers from the station would get a few drinks at the pub down the block, it was practically tradition. Except traditions could barely be called that when the bloody lass who had started it with him had been coming up with excuses just to get out of it, each excuse becoming easier to see through than the last.

Killian was rather close to his partner, or at least he thought he was until Swan insisted that nothing was wrong and everything was just peachy keen when it was terribly obvious that for the past month something had been eating at her.

Tonight was the last straw. He let her weasel out of the first pub outing just because he thought she probably needed time to deal with whatever she was dealing with.

The second time he let her go because he didn't want to upset her, simply thought she needed just a little more time. That following week he slipped in subtle and not so subtle hints that he was a very good listener, discreet, and considers her to be his best mate. When she had told him she was going him instead of going to the Rabbit Hole, he had been too stunned to say anything. He hadn't wanted to start an argument in front of everybody, so he once again had let her slip away.

When Killian had received a text from Emma that she wasn't showing up without even one of her excuses, he decided that enough was enough.

“Bloody hell, Swan. Please, let me in so we can talk.” His plea was met with silence, not even the gentle rustling she had been making earlier. He held up his other hand that had the rather large bottle of rum. “I brought liquor.”

The door opened a moment later. “Fine, get in here,” Emma said in a tone that would’ve been considered hostile if she hadn't said it so weakly.

She left the door open as she turned back inside her apartment.

He shut the door behind him and followed her into her semi posh looking apartment.

Empty takeout containers were on the counters and her sink was nearly full with dishes she had simply left in there. He managed to find a spot next to the entire mess to set down the bottle.

“I take it you really weren't expecting company,” Detective Jones said in a jovial tone to lighten the mood.

Emma’s lips quirked upwards for a moment before settling back into the depressed expression it had held for a month now. “If I knew you were coming, I would’ve gotten myself all pretty for you.” Her flirtation fell flat, unlike the usual teasing lilt she would always add at the end of her sentence, punctuated usually by a wink or a head tilt. It was those little teasing gestures that fed into the fantasies that played for Killian when he was alone in his bed.

He had been taken with his lovely Swan since they had been assigned to each other when he had first moved to Boston a few years earlier. He had first fought his crush on his guarded partner, but over the years they had increasingly gotten closer, having inside jokes, starting rituals and routines that included the other. They had gotten so close that Killian had even started entertaining the thought that maybe he wasn't alone in his quiet fantasies. Those thoughts had stopped when Emma started acting oddly.

He had hoped that it wasn't him that had started this melancholy she seemed to have trapped herself into. He had thought that initially, but the timing of her unexpected time off was too much of a coincidence.

He sighed. “Do you mind telling me what this is all about?” he asked.

Emma grinned at him, an empty grin. “Well, you see, this is called flirting-”

“Bloody hell, Swan. You know exactly what I meant,” he sharply retorted to her as his frustration came to a head. The moment those words escaped his lips, her mask melted away into the depressed look she had adopted as of late. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to regret making her look that way, but he had managed to get her to stop playing games with him.

Emma rubbed her hand through her hair. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

He took a step closer to her, his hand reaching for hers on the counter, but not taking it into his own. “I figured, but the way you’ve been acting lately can’t be good for you. You know you can talk to me about anything, I’ll listen.”

She looked away from his eyes. “It’s personal.”

“Personal?” he said in disbelief. “Swan, I consider you to be my closest friend. Now something is really bothering you to the point where I am worried for you. Please, love, I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”

She looked at him for a few moments, he could practically see the pros and cons scale weighing behind her eyes. She shook her head. “It’s not really something to be so depressed about, I guess. Some people would be thrilled…..but I’m not.”

This time he did take her hand in his, gently stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. “What is it?” he asked in a gentle tone.

She bowed her head, collecting herself for a few seconds before speaking. “About six weeks ago I got a call from a PI in Maine. He said my birth parents wanted to meet me.”

Killian’s thumb stilled. Even without hearing the full story of Emma’s troubles in the foster system, he knew how much the topic of family was an aching spot for her. “Oh.”

Emma reached for the bottle he had brought, took off the lid, and poured a swig of it down her throat by only using her unoccupied hand. “I’m really glad you brought this. We might need it.”

He tightened his grip on her slightly. “What did you tell the PI?” he asked.

“I agreed to meeting them halfway in New Hampshire.” She gave a small laugh.

“What happened?”

“I was surprised. I always thought that my parents must’ve been irresponsible, cruel people who probably don’t talk to each other anymore.”

He took the bottle from her hand and slid it out of her reach. “I’m assuming that wasn't the case.”

“Not at all!” she said, her voice raising in exasperation. “One is the town sheriff and the other is a school teacher. They’re married, and outstanding and respectable members of the community.” Her tone turned bitter and she shook her head at it all. “I didn't know what to do. There they were, nice, normal people. There I was, bitter, jaded, and expecting a fight.”

He used his other hand to brush the hair out of her face. “Oh, Swan. You’re not some loathsome creature. You’re a bloody hero who has done amazing things. I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t be proud to say that they’re related to you.”

She scoffed. “You always say sweet things like that to me.”

“It’s probably because I mean them.”

The air filled with unfamiliar tension, in all the time they’d flirted, Killian had never come so close to confessing his love to her.

“Anyway,” she said, almost desperate to change the topic. “They wanted to ask how my life has been going the past twenty eight years. What could I tell them? I got adopted, then got sent back when my adopted family realized my replacement was on the way? Or how about how I was friendless the majority of my life? Or, and this one is the real cherry on top, how the first guy I ever cared about tried framing me for grand larceny?”

He placed his hands on her shoulders to shake her from her bad trip down child trauma lane. “Don’t do this to yourself, Swan. The past is in the past and it should stay there.”

She pushed herself from out of his semi embrace. “The absolute pity in their eyes put a downer on lunch. Even after telling them the answers they never wanted to hear, she told me it was alright to call her ‘Mom’.”

Killian winced. “Ouch. That was a bit insensitive.”

“Why now? Why not fifteen years ago when I would’ve done anything to get out of the foster system? How come they reached out to me now when my life is together? I’ve got a good place to live, a great job, amazing friends, I’ve got you-”

She froze, squeezing her eyes shut.

He wanted to dwell on her singling him out on her list of good things in her life, but now really wasn't the time to challenge their ‘just friends’ relationship status.

“You’re right, Swan. You created a fantastic life for yourself all by yourself.” His voice dropped to a murmur. “You should be proud of yourself. I am.”

She lifted her eyes to meet his, she breathed a smile. “This is exactly why I need you around. I’ve been agonizing with this shit for weeks and nothing. You’re the best friend I could ask for.”

He smiled back at her. The pale shade that had been his partner warmed up under his gaze. That was more like it.

At least it was. Until the her cell rang.

Emma’s smile faded away when she looked at the caller ID.

“It’s Mrs. Nolan,” she said. “I better answer that.”

Killian poured himself a drink and moved sat himself down in the chair next to him, watching her.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Just a quiet night in.” Emma listened to whatever her birth mother was saying on the other end of the line. Whatever it was, it didn't sound like Emma liked it, the panicky look in her came souring back. “Christmas? I don’t know….” She shot a look to Killian.

“If you don’t want to go, you know you’re more than welcome to spend it with my brother and myself,” he said. Of course she had to know, she’d spent the last two Christmases with the Jones brothers. Fortunately always missing Liam’s singing of ‘Emma and Killian, sitting in a tree’.

“No, Mrs. Nolan, that’s just my partner.” Emma’s face scrunched up unpleasantly. “No, the detective I work with, not my life partner.” Killian looked up in amusement. “Mary Margaret, I’m not gay.” He burst out laughing at that. At the sound of his laughter, a small smile crept up her face. “Sure, I’ll spend Christmas with you guys. I’d love to get to know you guys a little better.”

He gave Emma a thumbs up, happy that she’d decided to move forward with a relationship with her parents. “I’m still getting you a present,” he whispered.

“One condition. I want to take two friends with me.” Emma grinned mischievously at his stunned expression. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll be there.”

With all his detective skills, he could never understand what was going on in her head. All he could do was stare at her in wonder. The ever elusive and closed off Emma Swan was going to take him and his brother home to meet her parents.

“What?” Emma asked as she put her phone down on the counter. “Did you really think I could spend Christmas without my best guy?”

He chuckled. He wanted to kiss right then, the urge stronger than ever before, but it was completely the wrong time. Emma was still a little vulnerable from her conversation with Mrs. Nolan.

Emma might be over her funk, but her best friend making a move on her was not a good idea.

Fortunately for him Liam brought a sprig of mistletoe with them to Storybrooke, Maine and waited for just the right moment to execute his matchmaking plan.

It was much later he was told it was Emma’s idea.


End file.
